The Fly

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby were one of the most creative comic book teams in history.  They were responsible for a plethora of superheroes such as Captain America, invented Romance Comics, pioneered kid teams and challenged the medium their entire careers.

One of their creations was The Fly.  While the initial run of The Fly was short it influenced a number of young creators over the following decades.

When Rich Buckler agreed to head up the development of Archie Comics’ Red Circle imprint, one of its properties was The Fly.

While the initial release of the Red Circle Comics went smoothly editorial and publisher woes plagued the imprint.

Rich soon found himself at odds with the publisher, burdened by deadlines, dealing with creators and various other unexpected delays and problems.

Tragically the Red Circle line of comics faded after only a few short issues.

Still there were high points as some well-known creators (Steve Ditko being one of them) turned out some stellar work.

Issues #1 and #2 of The Fly featured covers by legendary comic book artist Jim Steranko.

Issue #1 also included introductions to The Shield and Mr. Justice while issue #2 spotlighted The Hangman.

It’s a pity Red Circle did not succeed as many of the stories were well written and illustrated and showed promise.

But, economics and print production woes seemingly doomed the relaunch before it really got it legs under it.

Years later DC Comics would attempt to relaunch Red Circle with much of the same results.